Archive for the ‘Resources’ Category

SEO can be very elusive to some, but its downright something that all bloggers should concentrate on if monetization is a goal. If you are not in a niche market, targeted SEO can be very difficult and often comes post by post. The key is not get lackadaisical about setting it up before you hit that publish button.

I admit that I can be extremely lazy in this aspect on my own personal blog and its cost me big numbers over the years.

Sometimes publishing up to 3-5 articles a day for your audience can make you jump the gun and ignore the tags, the keywords, and the elements that will give you long term respect in the search engines, whose affects will last well beyond your initial audience.

Here are 5 tips to SEO your posts for some google love.

SEO Tip #1) Get your own domain. As much as google and wordpress wanna rope you in with their .blogspot and .wordpress, the only ones they are doing any favor to, is them. Regardless of what platform you are on, nothing can take the place of a top level domain in a .com .

Sure, if you have to settle for a .net (.org and .edu also get good rankings if they are relevant) then do, but nothing takes the place of a good old .com. Aside from the fact that it’s, well, the most known ending of all websites, the chances of being confused with another website with the same name won’t be one of your worries as you grow.

Finding something that is in your niche, a keyword likely to be typed in and tied into what you are selling or speaking about, and of course easy to remember and spell, is imperative to long term success. Not only will it be your branding, but a domain name is a direct reflection of the amount and type of visitors you get from search engine traffic.

When I set out to name my blog, I knew I wanted the word “mom” in my domain somehow. I wanted it to be unique, short, and as easy as possible to remember. It took about 10 trial names before I settled on “MomDot.com”, which was my clever rendition of Mom(dot)com. The biggest issue I have found with my name is that when I am speaking it, it takes a bit to have people understand.

Mom.com? No, MomDOT(dot)com!

• Tip #1A) I didn’t really think out the implications of the spoken word and often get caught up myself explaining my own name. Make sure you say your new domain out-loud before you purchase it.

1. Does it sound normal?
2. Is it easy to say, easy to explain?
3. If you were on the phone with a PR rep or a radio station,would it come out clearly?

• Tip #1B) As mentioned before, a domain is also a brand. Think long and hard on your brand. Do you want to reflect a business, a personal interest, a product, yourself? Its a lot easier to find a domain and establish it right the first time, then it is to get 6 months into it and change. Don’t jump the gun on purchasing something you are excited about, then later realizing it didn’t fit the overall goal and you have to start over. Page ranks are assigned per domain, so starting over could mean losing links, page ranks, and even recognition.

I know because at conferences, people call me “MomDot”, and not Trisha, quite often.

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SEO Tip #2) Think long and hard about your post titles. What you write in your title are the keywords that search engines give the most weight to. Its very easy to disregard your title and opt for something quick, easy, or cute, but titling something “my tips” as opposed to “Top 10 SEO tips for mom bloggers”, will pretty much insure your article begins and ends after you publish.

Search engines crawlers decide that your titles, the largest parts of each post that are generally bolded and in a bigger text, mean more. Remember a spider (also known as a robot or web crawler) reads your site by text, so the larger and closer to the top a word is, the more the search engines believe that is what your site, and essential your content, is about.

Here is a sample from my personal mom blog:

In the first graphic, you can see a post I wrote yesterday on Charlotte. While its a good conversationalist topic and asks a question, which inspires a comment response, as far as long term click throughs on that article, its going to be almost none when its off the front page.

Now on the 2nd article, you can see a comparison review I did back in December 1st, 2008 for Dyson. I opted for a keyword phrase for the title that most people would type in, which was comparing the two top lines of that vacuum out at the time.  Its been over a year and the second article still accounts for daily search engine clicks for my site.

Now imagine if you did that with the thousands of posts you write per year?

You are most likely missing out on 100’s of visitors that will never see your site because you didn’t take the extra 3 minutes it takes to SEO a post before you published.

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SEO Tip #3) Don’t ignore the permalinks:  Most people call them pretty permalinks. There is nothing worse then a permalink that is “http://www.yoursite.com/products/date/productname/bunchofjunkyoudontneed/post.htm

Not only is that nearly impossible for people to tweet (including you) without going to bit.ly (which unless its your mom they wont do for you, so your missing traffic in social networking too) but its also extremely unfriendly for a spider.

Remember, the closer to the top, the closer to the beginning, the more weight it gives. That means your domain name gets the weight, then the next word, then the next word.

Provided what your content is actually about is the LAST word, google may not even care by the time it goes through 9 words on your permalink. If your article is on “widgets” it needs to be ‘Hhtp://www.sitename.com/widget” .

The end.

Lets say your entire site is about that one widget and thats all you write. Change it up and use alternate keywords, phrases, and likely search terms that visitors will type in to find you.

A pretty permalink looks like this:

This should also, again, show you how important your domain name is.

You can search what users are typing into the search engines and find out keywords and alternate phrases at Google Keywords.

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SEO Tip #4) Everyone forgets about the pictures. Its easy to do.  But pictures are content. You upload them from your memory card and they are named picture234324.jpg and when you add to your site, you don’t even consider changing the name or adding alternate text.

Stop doing that right now.

Pictures, if named properly, can bring more relevance to your article. If you are doing a post on “Graco Strollers” and want to share a picture of a graco stroller, by all means NAME it gracostroller.jpg and put some alternate text on it like “Top Graco Stroller for 2009″.

Pictures are crawled and put into image search engines. I once had a picture in Bing send 17,000 unique visitors to my site in one day because it was the #1 picture term looked up that day in some freak story online and I was the #1 picture in Bing for it.

Yes, 17,000.

The post was extremely old, but the picture was SEOed properly. What would have happened if I had just left that photo named img1923923.jpg? I wouldn’t have been indexed for that term and I would have missed out on some major exposure.

If you are on wordpress, this is your screen when you upload a picture….there is a reason all of that is there. USE IT.

Also, when you are adding pictures, surround the picture itself with text that contains keywords and excellent content. Again, let me point out that a robot spider is crawling your page, not a real person, so you have to lead it to what your post is about.

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SEO Tip #5) Don’t forget about them keywords: Using keywords in your posts are important. Remember to think about what you would type in to the search engine to find your post.

Would it be a “how to bake a cake”, would it be “top chocolate cake recipes”?

Start using those phrases and words embedded in your post correctly. Use them as lead ins to your paragraphs, connect them in your permalinks and post titles, and give it a really good sprinkling of healthy terms.

• Tip #5A) Do not pad your post with all the same search term. Search engines call this “stuffing” and it can actually hurt you. While you may want the search term “mom blog”, don’t just use that phrase.
• Use mom blogs, mom blogger, mommy blogs, top moms online, influential blogs, etc.  Its also better to seek out lesser used search terms where you are likely to capture the majority of the audience. You may be competing with 1000’s of sites with the word “mom blog” but maybe only a few hundred with the term “top mom blogger”. I would rather capture the majority of the 100 people that are typing in the latter, then 10 out of the 1000 that type in the larger name of ‘mom blog’.
• Tip #5B) While I would never recommend a misspelled word in a blog, there are many words that are commonly misspelled and consequently mistyped, into the search engine. Naming a photo or an atl text with the common misspelling can bring you search engine results to those typing it in wrong.

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• Bonus Tip)  Meta Tags: Your blog has a name. Your blog has a description. Again, where you put each word is where google ranks it. Its not a smart idea to put your business/blog name first in those title tags unless you are really known as that name and that will be your search engine type in key words.

Again, use words that people will type in to find your site in your blog title AND in your blog description.

In my example of my mom blog, you can see that I have chosen to put the term “mom blog” at the beginning, my site name second, and my personal name last. Now in my description, I am constantly changing it. I used to be on the front page of google for “Mom Blogs” and now I am on the top of the 2nd page simply because I was testing new description key words.

It makes a difference.

Another thing to point out is the term “mom blogs” is NOT the term “mom blog”. You have to SEO for the exact terms you want. In my case, taking out the terms ‘public relations’ and ‘media’ would be smart as the majority of my site isn’t related to that, and instead adding keywords that will be better for my personal site.

You can find out what your site says about you at this FREE META TAG ANALYZER. Just plugin your domain name and voila. Now you know what the spiders see. If you don’t like what it says, use this Meta Tag Generator to fix, and then add to your header in your blog.

If you are on Wordpress, you can also use plugins like All in One SEO, which is a very flexible and easy way to get this done.

Bonus Tip #A) Don’t think that you can add keywords that have nothing to do with your site. Just because the word “sex” gets a lot of google type in per month, doesn’t mean you can throw that in your title, permalink, and site description and its going to bring you 1 million sex addicts. Your content still has to be relevant to what you use. Google is wise to fake keywords, so they wont give you weight unless your site is, in fact, about sex. Make sense?

Now this article could go on at least another 20 paragraphs in SEO tips, but another tip is, don’t cram everything into one article at the same time. Break it up so your spiders can read it properly and so your visitor doesn’t get bored and quit reading.

I sincerely hope this was helpful and check back for upcoming tech articles and more SEO tips in the future. If you liked this article or found it helpful, we would appreciate a tweet or a link so other mom bloggers can be inspired.

To your success!

~Trisha

Want more blogging tips? Check out Trisha’s newsletter!

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Trisha Haas is the owner of MomDot, often referred to in the media and a partnership in Top Mom Blogger, a helpful site to grow your blog.

Maggie Chilton, Maxwell Designs

Location: British Columbia, Canada
Website: http://maxwelldesigns.ca
Twitter: maxwelldesigns
Facebook (Business): http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#group.php?gid=131891778493

The Entrepreneur Behind The Biz:
I am a stay at home mum of 2 wonderful energetic boys aged 1 & 2.5 years old. Formerly a Pastry Chef and Restaurant General Manager in Vancouver, B.C we moved to Terrace as a promotion for my partner Steve.
Whilst pregnant with my first son Maxwell I went on the look out for a diaper bag that wasn’t made of plastic or vinyl yet one that I could put in the wash and one that suit my personality – needless to say I couldn’t
find anything!! I set about making my own bag that I could use well after my need for a diaper bag had gone. I wanted a bag that didn’t scream “baby on board” so I played around with lots of fabrics and combinations. After making my first bag I was hooked and started making bags for craft fairs and farmers markets. Maxwell Designs was born!
The Biz:
Maxwell Designs is located in Terrace, B.C and now retails in stores across Canada including Huckleberry Baby Shop in Nanaimo to the Green Collection in Ontario to Go Green Baby in Maryland, U.S.A. We have even sold as far as Ireland and South Korea.
Why we shone a spotlight on it:
Maxwell Designs creates eye catching and eco-friendly diaper bags that are totally unique to you! you choose your fabric (Over 65 fabric choices!!) and how you want you bag and they make it for you. All of their bags are hand made here in Canada using only the best quality hemp and with such an eye for detail you will be blown away!
Their designs are awesome and because of that Maxwell Designs has been specially selected to be a part of this year’s Oscar Swag Bag!

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Know an Entrepreneur who deserves a Spotlight? (Maybe you??) Let us know!

I know you’ve heard the same stuff that I’m about to repeat; You’ve  gotta network.. You’ve gotta network.. Honestly, it does get boring and then you stop listening and the message is lost.. Am I right?

A few of my main beefs about networking:

• It’s expensive
• It’s like a cell plan – you get locked into a contract term
• It’s always at 7 in the morning (I’m not even dressed at that point, you want me to be on my biz game?! HA!)
• Many of them are quite boring…

I have got to be very taken by the host of the meeting and be really engaged to consider the “contract” option.. I have recently been to one of those very networking meetings and would most definitely commit to such an organisation if the travel distance wasn’t so prohibitive for me.

I attended the Toronto Enterprising Mom’s Network meeting hosted by Tereza Kumric (The Chapter Director) – and had a great time!! There were plenty of great business women in attendance (The Yummy Mummy Club, Grace Announcements, Mabel’s Labels, Melissa Collesano Photography and so many more!!) We laughed, we ate, we shared stories and we were engaged! Erica Ehm of The Yummy Mummy Club spoke of how she became an Entrepreneur and regaled us with her trials and tribulations of being in business for yourself.

I also, a day later had the pleasure of attending another type of networking meeting – a dinner. This time, it was an invite only dinner (invitees were winners of a Yummy Mummy Club contest) I was extremely lucky that week (more about that streak of luck at a later time ) and snagged one of those invites.

We were treated to a Windows 7 party and were treated like royalty while we conversed with each other (about 20 women) in a wonderful restaurant, eating delicious food, drinking wonderful wine and just being, the club says, Yummy Mummys.

Again, we learned things – from the presenters and from each other (Wondermoms, WeeWelcome, SweetMama & More!). We laughed, we shared stories and we experienced a bit of each other’s lives – but the main point, we were engaged.

Very few “average” networking meetings can live up to these events and its because they’re stuck in the norm, maintaining the “usual” routine. It’s no longer about making business contacts, rather making personal contacts.. making friends.. relating to each other on a level that is much more than just “what service can I provide you”.

With that, I would like to introduce Foundation Studio’s very first networking event.

February 2nd, from 7 – 9pm, a bunch of great business women and men will be at The Lina Lounge in Schomberg to listen to Hilary McDonald give tips, tricks and advice on preparing for the upcoming tax season (Blegh!)

Our networking meetings are different because you never have to pay a membership fee, you are not obligated to come to all of our meetings, only the ones that interest you (we hope they all do!) and only the ones that fit with your schedule.

Our networking meetings have a start and an end, one topic, food, drink and plenty of Q&A, casual conversation and loads of networking!

Please consider joining us on February 2nd to participate in our meeting – I’d love to meet you and introduce you  to the team!

February’s Meeting – $10

Tax Preparation with Hilary McDonald, Accountant

Sponsored in part by:

Date: February 2nd, 2009 from 7pm-9pm

Location: Lina Lounge & Playroom, Highway 9 & Highway 27, Crossroads Plaza, Schomberg Ontario (Map Below)

Register Today so you don’t miss out!

$10/person

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A Very Special Thanks to Friends at The WomenPreneur and The Yummy Mummy Club for helping us spread the word!!

TGIF!! Welcome to our very first edition of Financial Fridays! I’d also like to extend a warm welcome to our very first guest blogger (who’s going to be a regular) Hilary McDonald – Accountant.

Every Friday Hilary will talk money; the ins and outs, ups and downs of small business finances. If you have a financial question – she is the person to ask.. Ask away and your question will be answered here – on the Foundation Studio blog!! FREE Financial Advice?! How cool is that?!

Hilary starts off the series with what to do now that the year has come to a close…

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Year-End and the New Year

Most unincorporated small businesses are required by the government to have a year end of December 31.  So while we rang in the New Year most of our businesses had “year-end”.    Did you miss it?!   No worries.  Thankfully, year-end for businesses is more a process of closing the books for 2009 and preparing for 2010.  Whether your record keeping system is manual, computerized or like so many of us, a box of receipts in the corner of the office, there are a number of things you should be getting ready and organized.   Tax deadline has a way of sneaking up on us each year.

1. Separate 2009 and 2010 – Close your computer record keeping software for 2009 and open a new year.  Follow the guidelines included in your software package and make sure you print everything your system suggests in hard copy and make a backup of your files before you close.   Any manual ledgers that you keep should be totalled for the year and new ledgers set-up for 2010.  If you are a box person, get a new box and write 2010 on it.
2. Round-up paperwork – Start getting your tax paperwork together and keep it all in one place.  T-slips from employer’s, investments and other income sources, UCCB, RRSP receipts, Fitness receipts for the Fitness Tax Credit,  2008’s Notice of Assessments and copy of tax returns, etc.  T-slips must be issued by end of February so if you are missing any slips at that time, call the issuer to get new ones as quickly as possible.
3. Communicate with your accountant.  Ask questions if you are unsure of how to handle “year-end” related items and book an appointment now to get your taxes done.   If this is your first year end, ask your accountant for a list of what information they are going to need to prepare your taxes for your business.

Getting organized will save you time and money.  Let’s make sure 2010 is a truly prosperous one for your  business!

Hilary L. McDonald – Accountant
www.HilaryMcDonald.com

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Got a financial question? Ask Hilary a question and you may have it answered in the next Financial Friday post!!

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Candi Wingate, Nannies4Hire & Care4Hire

Location: All over North America
Website: http://www.care4hire.com
Twitter: Nannies4Hire

The Entrepreneur Behind The Biz: I have been a nanny, owned a nanny agency, started 3 online nanny databases, wrote a book “100 Tips for Nannies & Families” plus am a wife and mother of 2. My name is Candi Wingate and founder of Nannies4hire.com, Babysitters4hire.com, Care4hire.com and a Nanny Agency. My nanny experience actually goes way back. I was a nanny for a family with 5 children, which included newborn twins. After becoming a nanny and working in a nanny agency for several years, I purchased the successful Nation-Wide Nanny Placement Agency. After finding that we needed to expand, Nannies4hire.com, Babysitters4hire.com and Care4hire.com were born.

The Biz:
Care4hire.com is an online database for families and caregivers to search babysitters, housekeepers, tutors, elder/companion care, pet sitters and other miscellaneous service. A free preview of available caregivers is available to families. Whether you need a caregiver for a few hours to a few days, you will find it at Care4hire.com. Once you are a registered member, you will be given immediate access to caregiver through email and phone.

Why we shone a spotlight on it:
This is such a great idea!! Care4hire.com is offering a way to find fantastic services to help mom with a cleaning lady or a trustworthy babysitter. I have had gnarly luck finding a babysitter when I really needed one. In general, I have spoken with other parents who have found a the local teenager who is willing to watch the kids, but then she/he realizes that there’s more to teenage life and suddenly finds a group of friends/boyfriend/girlfriend and the babysitter has gone MIA!! Another reason Care4hire.com is in the spotlight is because of the great resources found on the site! Questions to ask a prospective caregiver during an interview, tips and info on taxes and so much more! You even get a free search, so it is a win/win for you no matter how you slice it!!

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Know an Entrepreneur who deserves a Spotlight? (Maybe you??) Let us know!

Welcome to 2010!

I am so glad you came back and I truly hope you like the changes we’ve made around here!! As you can see right off the bat, our site is completely different and hopefully, easier to navigate. We’ve added new services, removed some old ones and updated some others as well.. we’ve added some great people to the team and have a whole slew of awesome events and posts coming up!

[A word re: the upcoming posts; You will be receiving WEEKLY digests (so as not to inundate you with info) that you will be seeing in your inbox every Monday morning. These posts will be of the week before so you’ll get the whole week’s worth of great info, coming events and more!)

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What’s New for 2010

I have taken the site through a slight re-vamp and have updated and added some services, packages and prices.

I am so excited to announce that we are now servicing Blogger and Joomla platforms!! I am also SUPER excited to introduce you to a new Team Member; Nick Simard!

Nick and I have known each other since 1995 (We went to Highschool together) and have grown to be good friends over the years (At least I’d like to think so ).  I have turned to Nick in times of creative blankness and he has bailed me out in numerous occasions! Nick is a whiz with Joomla (and other things!) and will be taking on all Joomla projects from here on in. Please extend your welcome and let everyone know Nick is here!!

As I stated in my “end of year post” we do have some great news coming through the pipeline – I know I am being secretive, but it’s one of those things where my hands are currently tied and I can only speak of it when I have been told – But I can assure you, it’s AWESOME!!!

I have some great posts coming up – we have an Accountant – Hilary McDonald who will be posting regularly – helping you with any financial issues you may be having AND we also have SUPER events in the works as well..

Please stay tuned for all of our great happenings – and please feel free to drop us a line – we’d love to hear from you!!

Thanks for sticking with me (and Foundation Studio), I can’t wait to grow with you in 2010!!

Ariane

Happy Holidays! Merry Christmas! Feliz Navidad! Joyeux Noel! Whatever you’re celebrating right now, we wish you all the best!!

We will be officially closed for the holidays from December 24th through to January 10th; but of course will be back with our usual pizazz from that day forward!

This is our last post of 2009! Crazy how time has flown by and with such great things that have transpired in the past 365 days, we know that 2010 is going to be even better!!

We have HUGE HUGE news in the beginning of the new year that will see Foundation Studio becoming more involved in the small business industry; we have new clients that we are excited to tell you about and loads of awesome events that are set to kick off in January! Keep your eyes open for a new website, expert bloggers and even better content!

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A huge thank you to everyone who helped Foundation Studio get to this point – we certainly could not have done it without you!

A great big high-five goes out to all the Treasure Trove Companies – Our “little” Companies got a LOT of great exposure!

And to YOU; Foundation Studio Readers.. Thank you so very much for your replies, your input and most of all your willingness to keep receiving our posts – I promise you, 2010 will be full of fun, informative and exciting happenings!

Cheers to a great holiday, good eats and plenty of fun with family and friends!

‘Til 2010….

Ariane

Our third Holiday Treasure Trove Thrifty Thursday!! An awesome special offer only for Holiday Treasure Trove Readers!!

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15% OFF from Gretchen & Co.

Check out Gretchen & Co.,  a high end children’s clothing store that carries top European designer clothing.  With exquisite designs and unique fabrics, each item is hand selected for the clothing’s beauty and craftsmanship by Gretchen & Co.’s proprietor, Silke Rampf,  as she travels the globe searching for the best children’s clothing.  Our philosophy is simple: we believe in a land of unusual colours, incredible details and sumptuous fabrics. Gretchen & Co., carries fashion forward pieces that maintain a balance between contemporary and timeless designs.

A visit to the store offers shoppers the opportunity to get their hands on some highly sought out brands in Toronto, such as Bonpoint.  This selective approach to fashion is maintained through each season, as each collection is carefully researched for its simplicity, utility and overall design.

Stop by the website to grab 15% off your holiday order – But hurry, offer expires November 30, 2009

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Don’t forget to check out our other Holiday Treasure Trove goodies – Great gift ideas from fabulous Canadian Parentpreneur Companies!!!

Welcome to the world of Tiny Giggles – Hopefully their products will make you giggle as much as I do.

Everyone wants the best for their children, and that is what spurred the creation of Tiny Giggles Gear. With the birth of two boys, Kwyn has become really conscious about the quality of products that she had access to and wanted to find more healthy, and environmentally conscious alternatives, to what was readily available. She realized that there were many “eco” alternatives to the plastics and disposable products found on most store shelves. As she was exposed more and more to the diversity of choices available to families looking for healthier options, Kwyn has grown the business to include products for newborns, infants, children and even parents.

Tiny Giggles specializes in products that are organic, or made from recycled materials and are ‘low carbon footprint items’. All of their toys are purchased with their own children in mind. They are easy to play with, attractive to children and are ‘earth friend’ to help preserve the earth for them. Buying these toys makes everyone feel good. If slowly we all start taking baby steps towards protecting the earth, maybe we can help make it a little better for our kids.

As a teacher, Kwyn researches every item that is added to Tiny Giggles, to ensure high quality and low environmental impact.  She understands that you want to know what is safe and that as busy parents; it is hard to find the information on what is best. Let Tiny Giggles do the research for you (they like to do it!) They’ll make sure that the toys, clothing, creams and water bottles are ethically made, safe for your children and environmentally friendly.

Tiny Giggles also has a gift registry for birthdays and baby showers, so that your family and friends can buy environmentally conscious items too – head over to the website to add your child’s name.

Tiny Giggles items are available at www.tinygiggles.ca where right now you can enjoy free shipping on all order over $100.  Make sure you join the news list to enjoy coupons, be the first to know about new products and receive valuable information to help your family be eco- conscious!.

Please visit www.tinygiggles.ca to explore all of the possibilities that await you this holiday season!

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Tiny Giggles is the third Feature in our Holiday Treasure Trove series – A FAB group of Parent owned companies that have great holiday gift ideas for you to check out! Stop by the Holiday Treasure Trove to see what Tiny Giggles and our other Parentpreneurs have in store for you!

Our second Holiday Treasure Trove Thrifty Thursday!! An awesome special offer only for Holiday Treasure Trove Readers!!

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20% OFF from GRACE ANNOUNCEMENTS!!

Lindsay loves creating custom photo cards and stationery for all of life’s moments. A complete line of professionally printed photo birth and adoption announcements, invitations, holiday cards, note cards, call me cards and more. She customizes all of her designs or will create something perfect just for you!

Lindsay takes great pride in her unique designs, photo editing and unbeatable customer service. That has helped Lindsay and Grace Announcements stand out from her competitors.

Hear it direct from her customers – read what they have had to say about Grace Announcements!

Check out the website to order your holiday cards today! Save 20% on all orders from now until December 1st, 2009

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Don’t forget to check out our other Holiday Treasure Trove goodies – Great gift ideas from fabulous Canadian Parentpreneur Companies!!!